Month: October 2016

Light Your Fire, Carry Your Torch and Walk Your Edge

~ jodiheisz ~ 8 Comments

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“We have to dare to be ourselves, however frightening or strange that self may prove to be.”
– May Sarton

Standing still, the safe way or the scary way. Which path will you choose?

Standing still leads…well to nowhere. No growth, no spiritual development, just… being there. The safe way leads somewhere…but not to where you are supposed to be. Limited growth, limited spiritual development, and just… mindlessly walking through life. But the scary way leads you to where you belong…your true destination. Skyrocketed growth, spiritual awakening, and fully being there…perfectly and authentically you.

Too many of us live our lives being a fraction of who we are. We are afraid to be authentic in fear of offending others, being an outcast or misunderstood. Our inner fire is blown out with our spirits living in darkness so we walk the safe the path or worse… not moving at all.

But, I say no way and to hell with that. Grab that mindset and throw it down to the ground. It’s time to walk scary path leading you to the places where you belong and becoming the person you are meant to be.

So, how do you walk the scary path leading you towards your true place in life?

You need to light your fire, carry your torch and walk your edge.

Light Your Fire
To start being authentic and live true to yourself, light your fire. This is the fire in your heart ignited by your passion for truth and greatness. It burns hot giving you strength, energy and vitality to get on the path and stay on the path. The internal flames motivate you to push through obstacles and challenges to keep moving forward no matter what happens.

Carry Your Torch
Now with your inner fire burning strong, light your torch and carry it on your path. This torch is the light of your inner wisdom and intuition deep within your soul. It helps you see in the darkness and when troubles come along the way. Trust and have faith this light will guide you right to where you need to be.

Walk Your Edge
You ignited the fire in your heart. You are carrying your torch of wisdom and intuition. Now it’s time to be brave and walk your edge.

This is where the rubber meets the road, and the hard work begins. Fear and the real you come face-to-face pushing you to live in absolute truth with courage and strength. No sugar coating and no watered-down versions of yourself. You are not one person in the presence of another while being different in front of another. You are consistent with who you are with each and every person you meet. It means being brutally honest with yourself accepting what needs to be changed and doing what feels right in your heart.

Walking your edge on the scary path is well… scary. Here are some suggestions to keep one foot in front of the other without falling off track… or the edge.

  1. Practice on Easy People First: Start being the real you with the people who love and accept you the most. These are the people who celebrate with you and walk by your side through anything. Then, move on the ones who challenge you more. Once you overcome their resistance to you being you, you’ll gain confidence to keep your edge with everyone on your path.
  2. Open Your Heart and listen to it speaking to you. Guidance for your life comes to your heart from God helping you live with your truest self. Remember, it’s doesn’t matter what someone else thinks is right, but what you feel is right.
  3. Be Unapologetic: Never apologize for being authentically you. If you are sarcastic, be sarcastic. If you are nice, be nice. If you are bold, be bold. If you are quiet, be quiet. Whatever it is as long as it’s you. Never ever sugar coat or downsize who you really are.
  4. Be Fearless: To walk your edge means you must face your fears and plow through them. Kick fear in the ass knocking it down so you can move forward.
  5. Be Assertive: When someone tries to pull you away from your essence, be assertive and say no! Stand tall and strong for what you believe in. No need to be disrespectful or mean, but remain calm and grounded in your mind and spirit.
  6. Use Your Voice: God gave you a voice for reason. To use it. So use it wisely. Speak your truth. Don’t be shy. Tell people how much you care about them. And, don’t let someone cut you down. Express yourself. Be honest. But, always do it with love. Right speech equals loving and truthful speech.
  7. Come Out of Hiding: What’s that mask you’ve worn all these years? What about the closet you’ve been hiding in? Are you wearing a set of clothes to cover something deep inside of you? Whatever it is, pull it off and come busting out the doors. Many of you are afraid to show your true colors for fear of rejection or being different. But, you create this fear. Most people want to see the real you instead of a fake persona. And if they don’t like the real you, boo-hoo for them. It’s their loss, not yours.

You need you, the real you. Your family needs you, the real you. Your friends need you, the real you. The world needs you, the real you.

The next time you wake up in the morning, make a choice. Choose to get up, be the real you and take the scary way. And when you do, remember to always…

light your fire, carry your torch and walk your edge.

 

Featured photo credit by Jordan Whitt

When You’re Having a Shitty, No Good, Bad Day

~ jodiheisz ~ 8 Comments

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“Happiness is a choice.”

“Be positive at all times.”

“Smile and have a good attitude.”

“Life is what you make it.”

Yes, all the above positive statements are uplifting, true and helpful indeed. I use and live by them almost every day. At least, I try to anyway. But sometimes, I feel shitty having a no good, bad day. Plain and simple. On these shitty, no good, bad days, hearing these statements makes me want to hurl a projectile vomit and throw a spear at anyone who dares to speak them to me. And, you know what? That’s OK.

We are human. And being human means we experience a vast array of emotions ranging from anxiety to peace and from depression to joyfulness. I do believe life is 100% better being happy and positive. But we need to accept there will be days when we feel upset, stressed, scared, depressed, anxious and frustrated. Life is not always rainbows and unicorns, but sometimes tornadoes and wolves. Once we accept this fact, we can take the proper steps to prepare and handle these difficult emotions with grace and dignity.

Even though we feel wrecked, these unpleasant emotions aren’t necessarily “bad”. They give clues to what needs attention for self-improvement and healing. Once we notice the clues, we have the opportunity to look deep within and see what truth lies beneath the surface. It also means we are normal trying to navigate our lives in a difficult world. In the end, what matters most is what we do with these emotions.

I’m no expert since I am working on this all the time. But when I feel negative or sad, here are a few things I try and maybe they will help you too.

  • Embrace it: When you feel down or upset, embrace these feelings. Like a loving mother holding her crying baby, nurture and hold your feelings with love and compassion. Heal your pain with your attention and care. After a while, the pain or sadness fades away transforming into peace.
  • Let go of the story: We tell ourselves stories in our minds about how bad it is, how awful we were treated and how we are victims over and over again. Today, let go of the story. Release it into the universe. If you can’t let it go, change it. Make yourself the hero. See yourself rising above the ashes to overcome your challenges and win.
  • Journalize: Write down your feelings. Let all the nasty, raw emotions bleed right on the paper seeping through the other side. The more honest you are with your writing, the more you release and heal. This is great way to process your emotions while helping you see things from a different perspective. When I write about something I am upset about, I notice towards the end my words have changed to a more positive tone. My view point shifts throughout the journaling to see things in a new light.
  • Feel your body: Pause and take a moment to feel the stress and tension in your body. Where do you feel tightness? On your forehead or cheeks? Are your neck and shoulders tight and tense? How is your breathing? Is it short and shallow? Are you tensing up your jaw? The more in tune you are with your physical body, the greater ability you have to relax. Practice deep breathing and release the areas you feel tension and restriction.
  • You are not alone: All of us have bad days. We all get stressed, overwhelmed and experience disappointments and failures. Please know you are not alone and it’s ok. Reach out to a friend and talk about what’s going on. I’m sure they have their own story to tell helping you understand we all experience struggles.
  • Relax: Take a time out and relax. Meditate next to a tree. Go for a walk next to a lake. Maybe even take a nap. Sometimes the best medicine is go within and be with yourself for a little while. There’s nothing selfish with needing to spend time alone to rejuvenate and center your spirit. When you come back from relaxing, things will be much easier to deal with. You might discover it’s not as bad as it seemed to be, but instead, turned out to be a blessing in disguise.

If you are feeling shitty, having a no good, bad day, remember it’s normal to feel this way. Don’t beat yourself up. Instead, understand you are a beautiful soul filled with light and love learning valuable lessons in a challenging world.

One day, you will get there.

We all will, together.

Heal the Crying, Hurting Inner Child Within You

~ jodiheisz ~ 5 Comments

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Time to heal, time to be and time to be free. But to heal, to be and to be free requires you to go deep. Go deep into your wounds experiencing the pain head on. When you travel through your hurts, sadness and despair, you give them a chance to speak to you. Your pain has much to say for you to learn, move on and grow from your experiences.

Your wounds and past hurts are like little children in desperate need of comforting and nurturing from their mother. They are crying for you to hold and kiss them to make it all better. They want to tell you everything so you can emphasize with them while showering them with all your compassion and love. This is your inner child within you begging for your attention.

But, we push away our inner child who’s suffering from pain. We don’t have time. We don’t want to deal with it. Why should we go back there? It’s over and done with anyway, right? We are resistant to face what hurt us in the past because we are afraid of being hurt once again. But if we don’t give our inner child the time and the chance to heal, we’ll keep hurting now in this moment living in pain whether we realize it or not.

Continue reading →

Divorce Made Me a Bad Ass

~ jodiheisz ~ 4 Comments

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On September 1, I was honored and delighted my guest blog post, Divorce Made Me a Bad Ass, was featured on SweatpantsandCoffee.com. To read my article, click here.

Plus on SweatpantandCoffee.com, there are amazing articles on celebrating life, creativity, inspirational stories and things to make people feel good about themselves. I invite you to check out this fun and engaging website.

Blessings to you and have a wonderful day or evening!

xo,
Jodi